With less than three weeks to go before the start of the 2018 Currie Cup – sponsored by Nashua and DirectAxis – SA Rugby has launched the competition on their digital channels, starting with a fascinating look back at a drought-breaking title win in 2005 for the Toyota Free State Cheetahs.

SA Rugby’s Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus, who was the Free Staters’ head coach that year, and hard-working flanker and former Blitzbok Kabamba Floors get the series of videos underway by talking about the Toyota Free State Cheetahs’ victory over the Vodacom Blue Bulls at Loftus Versfeld in 2005.

“Outside of Bloemfontein, virtually no-one gave Rassie and his team any chance to win that final in 2005, but they did – and that is the magic of the Currie Cup,” said Jurie Roux, CEO of SA Rugby.

“As the seven teams in the Premier Division gear up for what promises a blockbuster season, with no room for error, we decided it would be great to relive wonderful Currie Cup moments through the people who were there and experienced first-hand what this competition means.

“But it’s not only the ‘old guard’ who feature – we’ve also spoken to a number of up-and-coming youngsters to get their idea of what it means representing their unions in the oldest provincial competition in the world.”

Apart from Erasmus and Floors, other stalwarts of the competition who can be seen in the series of videos include the most-capped Currie Cup player of all time Jacques Botes, Naas Botha, who holds the record for the most career points in the Currie Cup, as well as the Ndungane twins, Odwa and Akona, Tendai Mtawarira, Robert du Preez (snr), Ollie le Roux, André Venter, and Tafel Lager Griquas’ biggest supporter, “Bushy” Oliver.

Of the younger generation, Damian Willemse, Curwin Bosch, Ox Nche, Hanro Liebenberg, Seabelo Senatla, Warrick Gelant, Hacjivah Dayimani and the three Du Preez brothers, Robert (jnr), Jean-Luc and Daniel, took time off their training schedules to be part of the series.